Al Bhed Blues
by Laer Aerlinn
Summary: Afraid of lightning? Not Rikku! Well, maybe just a little. But that will all change in one week… [set preFFX2] [Rikku’s POV] [COMPLETE]
1. The Sphere

**Summary:** Afraid of lightning? Not Rikku! Well, maybe just a little. But that will all change in one week… [set pre-FFX2] [Rikku's POV]  
  
**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy X-2 belongs to Square-Enix, not me.

**Al Bhed Blues**  
_Chapter One: The Sphere_

It was just another ordinary day aboard the Celsius, or so I thought, but that was all about to change…  
  
"Treasure sphere alert!" Buddy announced, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Ordinary enough right?  
  
"Alright!" I exclaimed as I punched my fist in the air and started my 'pre-victory' dance. "Time for some sphere hunting action!"  
  
"Where is it?" Yunie asked, leaning in to get a better look at Buddy's screen..

"Hmm…" He punched some buttons. "Looks like the signal is coming from the Thunder Plains."  
  
"W-what?" I stopped myself in the middle of my celebrating. "The T-thunder Plains?" I squeaked, failing miserably at disguising the rising terror in my voice. Okay, I'll admit the Thunder Plains have _never_ been my favorite place in Spira. Everyone's afraid of something, right?  
  
"What's wrong?" Paine spoke up, giving me one of her trademark icy looks. Sometimes I think she can read minds. It totally freaks me out.  
  
"Eh heh heh… N-nothing!"  
  
"You're not scared, are you?" There she goes with that telepathic thing again.  
  
"N-no, of course not!" I gave her a shaky smile. Was she buying it?  
  
"Then let's go."  
  
Sold!  
  
"Rikku." Yunie shot me a significant look. She knew how much I hated the Thunder Plains. "Paine and I can-" I had to stop her. She was going to say she and Paine could handle it, that I could stay behind on the Celsius, but I couldn't let her say that; she'd blow my cover! Paine would never let me live it down.

"Uh uh, Yunie," I shook my head vigorously. "I-I can handle it. In fact… I'll find that sphere myself!"  
  
Silence greeted that extraordinary pronouncement. Ugh! I slapped myself mentally. Why'd I have to go and say a stupid thing like that? Me and my big mouth!  
  
"What are you talking about, Rikku?" Brother questioned, flailing his arms. He is such a dork sometimes. Scratch that. _All_ the time.  
  
"I-I'm gonna find it!" Well, I had to keep going with this now that I started it and that's not as easy as it sounds. I'm totally petrified of thunder and lightning!  
  
"But Rikku-"

"I say we let her do it," Paine said surpressing a smile.  
  
"Next stop Thunder Plains!" Brother cried, pointing into the distance and toward my doom.

* * *

I stood inside Rin's Travel Agency, wincing at every crash of thunder. Why did I do this to myself? Why couldn't that sphere be somewhere nice, like the Moonflow? I shook my head. I'm a sphere hunter now. I've got to find that sphere, no matter how long it takes!  
  
"Excuse me, miss?"  
  
"Huh?" I spun around. The clerk at the counter was addressing me. "Yes?"  
  
"We'll be closing in five minutes." "Five minutes!? Automatic panic mode took over. "C-closing? B-but I thought you guys were open all night!" She shook her head. "Not anymore, I'm afraid. Lord Rin decided we were losing too much money. We had to cut down on costs somewhere."  
  
"O-oh?" I tried to conceal my disappointment. It was hard to restrain myself from falling to my knees and begging her to let me stay. I slowly inched my way towards the door.  
  
I'm gonna do this! I reached for the door with a shaking hand. I'm gonna get that sphere! My hand touched the cool metal. Who's the best sphere hunter? I pushed on it gently. I am! The door swung open and I tumbled out onto the Thunder Plains.  
  
"Hmm, t-this isn't so bad." I nervously looked around. "M-maybe I can do thi- AHHH!" A gigantic bolt of lightning struck the ground. Definitely too close for comfort. I was nearly fried! Needless to say, the next second I was back inside the Travel Agency, safe and sound. Who was I kidding? This was going to be impossible!  
  
Maybe I better stop and explain the situation a little bit. When I was younger, I was attacked by a fiend while I was swimming. Brother was there, too, and he tried to ward it off by casting a spell. Sweet of him, right? Wrong. The nincompoop used a thunder spell and it missed the fiend and hit _me_ instead, meaning… BZZZT!! Well, you get the picture.   
  
"Rikku! Come in!" Brother's voice crackled through the transmitter.  
  
"Roger!"

"No, this is Brother. Did you find the sphere yet?"  
  
"Uh, no, not yet." I heard a loud groan in the background. "B-but I will soon. Very soon. Over and out."  
  
I clicked off the transmitter with a sigh. Now there was absolutely no way I could get myself out of this. Closing my eyes, I desperately willed the lightning and thunder to stop, just for a little while. …It didn't work.  
  
"Miss, we're closing now. I'll have to ask you to leave. Please come again."

The clerk shuttled me out the door, despite my many attempted protests. It swung closed behind me, banging louder than the thunder. It was locked. Believe me, I checked.  
  
Lightning flashed.  
  
"I-I can do t-this… I-I'm not a-afraid…" I shuffled a little farther away from the shelter of the agency. "I-it's just a part of n-nature, right?" I shuffled farther still. "N-nothing to w-worry about..." Shuffled farther. "J-just nature…" Shuffling…  
  
Okay, where to now? I was staring out at the wide-open plains, flinching as the lightning struck as far away as possible from the broken towers. They really oughta get those fixed. I racked my brains, trying to find something useful, something that would help me survive. Where was the best place to set up camp? Not too near and not too far from the towers? Yeah, that sounded right! I dashed over to the nearest tower, stopping about three feet away.  
  
Crash!  
  
Eeep! Come on Rikku, you can do this!  
  
"T-time to put up the tent."  
  
I pressed a tiny red button on the transmitter and a small machina flew out. It made a series of beeps and clicks before transforming itself into a huge blue tent. Not bad, huh? One of Shinra's more useful inventions. I jumped inside, hiding under the heavy woollen blanket. Hah! Now who's safe?  
  
The constant lighting flashes illuminated the inside of the tent, filling it with a strange blue glow. I'll admit, being inside a tent was a whole lot better than being outside alone, but not by much. I was shaking like a hypello!  
  
The transmitter snapped on. "Rikku, you awake?"  
  
"Huh? Brother, is that you? What are you still doing up?"  
  
"… I was… worried about you…"  
  
"Really? You were?" My Brother, the one responsible for my stupid phobia in the first place, was being thoughtful? Spira must be coming to an end.  
  
"Yes! And the sphere. You find it yet???"

So much for brotherly love… "No…"  
  
"Find it soon!" He paused. "Rikku, oui'na so cecdan... E muja oui…"

"E muja oui, duu, Brother…"

* * *

**Al Bhed Translations:**  
  
_Rikku, oui'na so cecdan... E muja oui…_ (Rikku, you're my sister… I love you…)  
  
_E muja oui, duu, Brother…_ (I love you, too, Brother…)  
  
**A/N:** Aww, a nice little Rikku-Brother moment (no, not in _that_ way!). I couldn't resist. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think so far. I'll get the next chapter up soon. 


	2. Mission Complete?

Al Bhed Blues

_Chapter Two: Mission Complete?_

Thunder rumbled overhead, shaking the tent. I still squirmed under the blanket, but now it was a different feeling. Not exactly fear but what?

I reached a trembling hand into the pack I brought with me (no, no, definitely not, no, bingo!) and found what I was looking for, the sphere-oscillo finder. It's the thing we Gullwings take with us on missions to help locate sphere waves. Right now it was emitting a faint beeping noise. Just my luck, the sphere was definitely nowhere near the tent. If I wanted to find it, I'd have to go out onto the, gulp, Thunder Plains…

You can do this Rikku! You're a sphere hunter, remember? You're not afraid!

'You're not scared, are you?' Paine's voice re-entered my thoughts.

"No, I'm not!" I burst out, my voice rivalling the thunder. "I'm not!"

'So, what are you going to do?'

"I'm gonna find that sphere!"

I crawled out from under the blanket, sphere finder in hand. This was it, the moment of truth. Pushing aside the flap, I looked out over the vast plains.

'Rikku, oui'na so cecdan... E muja oui...' Brother's words came back to me. For some reason, those words filled me with a feeling that I can't describe. They made me feel calmer, less nervous. Maybe he's not such a jerk after all.

"I-I can do this," I stuttered, my heart began to beat wildly again. I shook my head. You can't give up now Rikku. You're so close! One… two… three!

I lunged out of the tent, landing on my hands and knees like a cat. Lightning struck and I snapped my eyes shut. Was this the end? Well, if it is I'm not going down without a fight!

Minutes passed before I opened my eyes.

"Huh? I'm… still here." I was still alive! And I didn't smell like fried gyshal greens! The lightning didn't hurt me at all! I scrambled to my feet and raised my fist in triumph. "Hah! Who's laughing now storm? Me, that's who!"

A rumble of thunder greeted my elation.

"Ah, sorry, sorry! Now, I gotta find that sphere!"

* * *

I trudged across the Thunder Plains in search of the sphere, the occasional flash of lightning causing me to do nothing more than flinch. It was soothing, now that I think about it. Well, sort of. The sphere finder wasn't helping at all. That constant beeping was going to drive me crazy before I found the sphere, I just know it. 

Day one and no sign of the sphere. How long will it take me to find it? Will these empty plains become my grave? I shook my head. Snap out of it, Rikku! Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts… Remember that cute shoopuff? Tee-hee! Yeah.

Day two. Still no sphere. Happy thoughts would only get me so far and this was taking longer than I expected.

Days three and four passed in a blur, a few battles with some Stalwart interrupted my search. Guess what? Still no sign of that stupid sphere. I have a feeling I might just smash it when I find it.

Eat, sleep, search. Eat, sleep, search. That became my mantra as I trekked over the plains.

"Oh, how many days have I been out here?" I moaned, shaking the water from my hair. "This is taking too long! I-huh?" I blinked, not quite sure if what I was seeing was real or the product of some crazy hallucination. It looked like an orange glow was coming from behind a Qactuar Stone. The sphere finder was vibrating in my hands, beeping wildly. This must be it! The sphere!

Tossing the sphere finder aside I dashed over to the rock and grabbed the source of the light. It was a sphere. I raised my arms in triumph. "Yes! Whoo-hoo! I did it!"

* * *

Back aboard the Celsius I beamed as the crew examined the sphere, correction, _my_ sphere. 

"Impressive," said Shinra. "Let's see what's on this thing."

* * *

[Begin Sphere Transmission] 

Lightning sparked and thunder crackled overhead. The misty light of the thunder plains made it difficult to see, but the outlines of two figures were visible. They were waving their arms back and forth to some unheard melody. A giant bolt of lightning struck and the figures recoiled, "Shoo bright!"

[End Sphere Transmission]

* * *

I stood there dumbfounded. _This_ was the treasure sphere I risked my life to find? But it's, it's- 

"It's a dud," Paine remarked, walking away from Shinra's station.

"But, but, but-"

"We'll get it next time," Yunie said confidently, patting me on the shoulder. "Look on the bright side. You're not afraid of the Thunder Plains anymore, are you?"

"But, but, but-" She was right, but that wasn't the point!

"Hey, more treasure sphere waves…" Buddy's voice broke into my nonsensical sputtering.

"Really?" I instantly felt my spirits lift up. "Where are they coming from? I can handle it! Leave it to Rikku, the amazing treasure sphere hunter!"

"Strange, looks like the Farplane…"

"W-what?" My face fell. It felt like a thousand-pound weight was dropped right on top of me. The Farplane? Oh, that was even worse than the Thunder Plains! Totally creepy!

"Just kidding Rikku," Buddy laughed. "I can't believe you took that seriously!"

W-what? My eyebrow twitched. D-did he just say- "Rahhhhh! Buddy!"

"Uh oh!"

Yep, it was just another ordinary day aboard the Celsius…

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah! It's finally finished. Took a while, huh? I'm a procrastinator -.-; Ah, well, school's over so I had time to get this done. Thank you to the wonderful reviewers (Dark, FF Fan, Dante's Angel of Chaos) who reviewed (Ack! The repetitiveness!) the first chapter. 


End file.
